Arch Linux

huffton

Member

Registered: 2013-10-10

Posts: 8

Choppy sound in some applications

Please help me to get sound working from b-em!

Playing mp3 or ogg files from rhythmbox has very occasional gaps I.e. it goes silent for a fraction of a second, but this is not really noticeable.

More problematic is sound from some applications. Some steam games, and the b-em emulator. http://b-em.bbcmicro.com/

I tried the advice in https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pu … _crackling, including setting fragment and buffer size, but no joy.

I believe it worked some time ago, but I haven't tried it again until recently.

The b-em emulator creates the characteristic power on noise of the BBC micro something like "brrrr bib", but now rather than being a continuous tone, there are gaps in the sound, and the second tone starts before the first has finished. If you imagine it should look like this:

__________-----

It ends up sounding like this:

__  __  __  -  __ -- __ -  -

I have a Sony Vaio VPCEC1S1E. I am using the on board speakers - Not HDMI.  I can't work out how to look at the pulseaudio logs. Is this a systemd thing?

$ lspci| grep -i audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 05)
01:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Redwood HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5000 Series]

$ pactl list sinks
Sink #0
	State: SUSPENDED
	Name: alsa_output.pci-0000_01_00.1.hdmi-stereo
 << HDMI stuff snipped >>
Sink #1
	State: RUNNING
	Name: alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo
	Description: Built-in Audio Analog Stereo
	Driver: module-alsa-card.c
	Sample Specification: s16le 2ch 48000Hz
	Channel Map: front-left,front-right
	Owner Module: 7
	Mute: no
	Volume: front-left: 39271 /  60% / -13.34 dB,   front-right: 39271 /  60% / -13.34 dB
	        balance 0.00
	Base Volume: 63069 /  96% / -1.00 dB
	Monitor Source: alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo.monitor
	Latency: 89506 usec, configured 90000 usec
	Flags: HARDWARE HW_MUTE_CTRL HW_VOLUME_CTRL DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY 
	Properties:
		alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
		device.api = "alsa"
		device.class = "sound"
		alsa.class = "generic"
		alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
		alsa.name = "ALC269 Analog"
		alsa.id = "ALC269 Analog"
		alsa.subdevice = "0"
		alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
		alsa.device = "0"
		alsa.card = "0"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel MID"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel MID at 0xf5e00000 irq 27"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1b.0"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.vendor.id = "8086"
		device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
		device.product.id = "3b56"
		device.product.name = "5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio"
		device.form_factor = "internal"
		device.string = "front:0"
		device.buffering.buffer_size = "384000"
		device.buffering.fragment_size = "192000"
		device.access_mode = "mmap+timer"
		device.profile.name = "analog-stereo"
		device.profile.description = "Analog Stereo"
		device.description = "Built-in Audio Analog Stereo"
		alsa.mixer_name = "Realtek ALC269"
		alsa.components = "HDA:10ec0269,104d4600,00100004"
		module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
	Ports:
		analog-output-speaker: Speakers (priority: 10000)
		analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority: 9000, not available)
	Active Port: analog-output-speaker
	Formats:
		pcm

Let me know what I should do to doagnose the problem.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,645

Re: Choppy sound in some applications

Your latency is going haywire there, likely b-em doesn't properly define its requirements. Try starting it with something like

PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=30 b-em

(remove tsched=0 and restart pulse before trying this, tsched will give your far better and more flexible latencies in the cases that it works, it usually only doesn't with ALSA only applications that don't set up their requirements correctly.)

Last edited by V1del (2016-07-19 15:11:49)

huffton

Member

Registered: 2013-10-10

Posts: 8

Re: Choppy sound in some applications

Simply running it as you say doesn't make a change. I had undone all the changes made above. I also tried recompiling the program in case that helped, but no joy.

I had another look at /etc/pulse/daemon.conf, and noticed that the default sample rate is set to 48000, rather than 44100 so I might try to recalculate the fragment size and number of fragments.

Running from command prompt gives the following. A web search suggests it is nothing to be concerned about...

$ PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=30 ./b-em
B-em v2.2
connect(2) call to /dev/shm/jack-1000/default/jack_0 failed (err=No such file or directory)
attempt to connect to server failed

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,645

Re: Choppy sound in some applications

Assuming your card supports tsched the fragment sizes will be irrelevant. Can you post

pacmd list-sinks
pacmd list-sink-inputs

  while running b-em again? A cursory look at the source shows that b-em is using OpenAL for sound, you might want to configure that to explicitly connect to pulse: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PulseAudio#OpenAL

huffton

Member

Registered: 2013-10-10

Posts: 8

Re: Choppy sound in some applications

Thanks for your help.

I configured openal to use pulse, and I no longer get the error message, but the sound is still the same.

Here is the output of the two commands:

$ pacmd list-sinks
2 sink(s) available.
    index: 0
	name: <alsa_output.pci-0000_01_00.1.hdmi-stereo>
	driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
	flags: HARDWARE DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY DYNAMIC_LATENCY
	state: SUSPENDED
	suspend cause: IDLE 
	priority: 9050
	volume: front-left: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB,   front-right: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	        balance 0.00
	base volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	volume steps: 65537
	muted: no
	current latency: 0.00 ms
	max request: 0 KiB
	max rewind: 0 KiB
	monitor source: 0
	sample spec: s16le 2ch 44100Hz
	channel map: front-left,front-right
	             Stereo
	used by: 0
	linked by: 0
	configured latency: 0.00 ms; range is 0.50 .. 1999.82 ms
	card: 0 <alsa_card.pci-0000_01_00.1>
	module: 6
	properties:
		alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
		device.api = "alsa"
		device.class = "sound"
		alsa.class = "generic"
		alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
		alsa.name = "HDMI 0"
		alsa.id = "HDMI 0"
		alsa.subdevice = "0"
		alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
		alsa.device = "3"
		alsa.card = "1"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA ATI HDMI"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HDA ATI HDMI at 0xf0040000 irq 28"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:01:00.1"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.1/sound/card1"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.vendor.id = "1002"
		device.vendor.name = "Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]"
		device.product.id = "aa60"
		device.product.name = "Redwood HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5000 Series]"
		device.string = "hdmi:1"
		device.buffering.buffer_size = "352768"
		device.buffering.fragment_size = "176384"
		device.access_mode = "mmap+timer"
		device.profile.name = "hdmi-stereo"
		device.profile.description = "Digital Stereo (HDMI)"
		device.description = "Redwood HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5000 Series] Digital Stereo (HDMI)"
		alsa.mixer_name = "ATI R6xx HDMI"
		alsa.components = "HDA:1002aa01,104d4600,00100200"
		module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
	ports:
		hdmi-output-0: HDMI / DisplayPort (priority 5900, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "video-display"
	active port: <hdmi-output-0>
  * index: 1
	name: <alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo>
	driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
	flags: HARDWARE HW_MUTE_CTRL HW_VOLUME_CTRL DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY DYNAMIC_LATENCY
	state: RUNNING
	suspend cause: 
	priority: 9959
	volume: front-left: 49916 /  76% / -7.09 dB,   front-right: 49916 /  76% / -7.09 dB
	        balance 0.00
	base volume: 63069 /  96% / -1.00 dB
	volume steps: 65537
	muted: no
	current latency: 6.17 ms
	max request: 1 KiB
	max rewind: 344 KiB
	monitor source: 1
	sample spec: s16le 2ch 44100Hz
	channel map: front-left,front-right
	             Stereo
	used by: 1
	linked by: 1
	configured latency: 7.52 ms; range is 0.50 .. 2000.00 ms
	card: 1 <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1b.0>
	module: 7
	properties:
		alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
		device.api = "alsa"
		device.class = "sound"
		alsa.class = "generic"
		alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
		alsa.name = "ALC269 Analog"
		alsa.id = "ALC269 Analog"
		alsa.subdevice = "0"
		alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
		alsa.device = "0"
		alsa.card = "0"
		alsa.card_name = "HDA Intel MID"
		alsa.long_card_name = "HDA Intel MID at 0xf5e00000 irq 27"
		alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
		device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:1b.0"
		sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/sound/card0"
		device.bus = "pci"
		device.vendor.id = "8086"
		device.vendor.name = "Intel Corporation"
		device.product.id = "3b56"
		device.product.name = "5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio"
		device.form_factor = "internal"
		device.string = "front:0"
		device.buffering.buffer_size = "352800"
		device.buffering.fragment_size = "176400"
		device.access_mode = "mmap+timer"
		device.profile.name = "analog-stereo"
		device.profile.description = "Analog Stereo"
		device.description = "Built-in Audio Analog Stereo"
		alsa.mixer_name = "Realtek ALC269"
		alsa.components = "HDA:10ec0269,104d4600,00100004"
		module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
		device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
	ports:
		analog-output-speaker: Speakers (priority 10000, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-speakers"
		analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority 9000, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
			properties:
				device.icon_name = "audio-headphones"
	active port: <analog-output-speaker>

$ pacmd list-sink-inputs
1 sink input(s) available.
    index: 90
	driver: <protocol-native.c>
	flags: DONT_MOVE START_CORKED FIX_RATE 
	state: RUNNING
	sink: 1 <alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo>
	volume: front-left: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB,   front-right: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
	        balance 0.00
	muted: no
	current latency: 19.12 ms
	requested latency: 7.52 ms
	sample spec: float32le 2ch 44100Hz
	channel map: front-left,front-right
	             Stereo
	resample method: copy
	module: 9
	client: 25 <b-em>
	properties:
		media.role = hex:
		phonon.streamid = hex:
		media.name = "Playback Stream"
		application.name = "b-em"
		native-protocol.peer = "UNIX socket client"
		native-protocol.version = "31"
		application.process.id = "3592"
		application.process.user = "paul"
		application.process.host = "pauls"
		application.process.binary = "b-em"
		application.language = "C"
		window.x11.display = ":0"
		application.process.machine_id = "612fd848f4734a478b52b9ad87303939"
		application.process.session_id = "c2"
		application.icon_name = "/home/paul/Programs/b-em/B-emV2.2Linux/owl-l.gif"
		module-stream-restore.id = "sink-input-by-application-name:b-em"

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,645

Re: Choppy sound in some applications

That all looks alright to me, does it work with direct HW access ALSA? i.e. stop pulseaudio

systemctl --user mask pulseaudio.socket
pulseaudio -k

then retry with the ALSA backend. To restart pulse use

systemctl --user unmask pulseaudio.socket

it should respawn when you attempt to use an application using pulse (or if you intend to check some pulseaudio logs, you could leave the socket masked and manually start pulse with

pulseaudio -vvv

for some more verbose output (up to 5 v's iirc).

If it didn't work with ALSA, what about the rest of your system? what does your hardware look like? Do you reach fullspeed emulation?

Last edited by V1del (2016-07-20 15:14:33)

huffton

Member

Registered: 2013-10-10

Posts: 8

Re: Choppy sound in some applications

Thanks again for sticking with this.

With ALSA direct, it plays sounds in the correct order now. There are still gaps in the sound.

With b-em running it appears X uses 90% of a CPU. I suspect this is because it copies the entire emulated screen from memory every frame. Emulation does feel full speed, and b-em itself only uses around 20% of a CPU. Do you think X could be slowing b-em down and causing the problem?

I looked at the log from pulse and noticed it didn't report anything while b-em was producing sound, only when it stopped and started.

The laptop was a reasonably high spec desktop replacement when I bought it about 5 years ago. 4G RAM, 4 core i5 CPU, ATI graphics using the radeon driver.

top

top - 17:29:15 up 16 min,  1 user,  load average: 1.49, 2.05, 1.90
Tasks: 186 total,   3 running, 183 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
%Cpu0  :  19.5/12.8   32[||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||                                                                    ]
%Cpu1  :  17.4/20.1   38[|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||                                                               ]
%Cpu2  :  22.1/26.0   48[||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||                                                    ]
%Cpu3  :  12.4/13.8   26[||||||||||||||||||||||||||                                                                          ]
GiB Mem : 40.4/3.723    [                                                                                                    ]
GiB Swap:  0.0/5.588    [                                                                                                    ]

  PID USER      PR  NI    VIRT    RES  %CPU %MEM     TIME+ S COMMAND
  660 paul      20   0  259.5m  64.1m  91.4  1.7   5:56.31 R /usr/lib/xorg-server/Xorg vt2 -displayfd 3 -auth /run/user/1000/gdm/Xauthority -nolisten tcp -background none -noreset -keeptty -verbose 3
  785 paul      20   0 1779.2m 173.1m  21.7  4.5   1:42.81 R gnome-shell --sm-client-id 105ecb9a24d6b36f9114608978357883900000006640000
 2076 paul      20   0  280.0m  32.1m  19.7  0.8   0:41.81 S ./b-em
 1327 paul      20   0 1297.2m 438.6m   6.6 11.5   0:43.19 S firefox
   96 root      20   0    0.0m   0.0m   2.6  0.0   0:05.50 S [kworker/2:1]
 1253 paul      20   0  612.0m  38.4m   2.6  1.0   0:04.90 S /usr/lib/gnome-terminal/gnome-terminal-server
 1995 root      20   0    0.0m   0.0m   1.3  0.0   0:04.82 S [kworker/1:2]
 2002 root      20   0    0.0m   0.0m   1.3  0.0   0:03.83 S [kworker/3:0]
    7 root      20   0    0.0m   0.0m   0.7  0.0   0:01.91 S [rcu_preempt]
   22 root      20   0    0.0m   0.0m   0.7  0.0   0:00.45 S [ksoftirqd/2]
 2003 root      20   0   36.5m   3.8m   0.7  0.1   0:03.16 R top -c
 2126 root      20   0    0.0m   0.0m   0.7  0.0   0:01.47 S [kworker/0:1]
    1 root      20   0  111.8m   4.9m   0.0  0.1   0:01.37 S /sbin/init
    2 root      20   0    0.0m   0.0m   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 S [kthreadd]
    3 root      20   0    0.0m   0.0m   0.0  0.0   0:00.49 S [ksoftirqd/0]
    4 root      20   0    0.0m   0.0m   0.0  0.0   0:00.06 S [kworker/0:0]
    5 root       0 -20    0.0m   0.0m   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 S [kworker/0:0H]
    8 root      20   0    0.0m   0.0m   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 S [rcu_sched]
    9 root      20   0    0.0m   0.0m   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 S [rcu_bh]
   10 root      rt   0    0.0m   0.0m   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 S [migration/0]

$ cat /proc/cpuinfo 
processor	: 0
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 37
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU       M 430  @ 2.27GHz
stepping	: 2
microcode	: 0xc
cpu MHz		: 1333.000
cache size	: 3072 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 4
core id		: 0
cpu cores	: 2
apicid		: 0
initial apicid	: 0
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 11
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf eagerfpu pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid dtherm ida arat
bugs		:
bogomips	: 4524.83
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 1
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 37
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU       M 430  @ 2.27GHz
stepping	: 2
microcode	: 0xc
cpu MHz		: 2133.000
cache size	: 3072 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 4
core id		: 2
cpu cores	: 2
apicid		: 4
initial apicid	: 4
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 11
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf eagerfpu pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid dtherm ida arat
bugs		:
bogomips	: 4523.54
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 2
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 37
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU       M 430  @ 2.27GHz
stepping	: 2
microcode	: 0xc
cpu MHz		: 1599.000
cache size	: 3072 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 4
core id		: 0
cpu cores	: 2
apicid		: 1
initial apicid	: 1
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 11
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf eagerfpu pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid dtherm ida arat
bugs		:
bogomips	: 4523.55
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor	: 3
vendor_id	: GenuineIntel
cpu family	: 6
model		: 37
model name	: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU       M 430  @ 2.27GHz
stepping	: 2
microcode	: 0xc
cpu MHz		: 1333.000
cache size	: 3072 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 4
core id		: 2
cpu cores	: 2
apicid		: 5
initial apicid	: 5
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 11
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf eagerfpu pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid dtherm ida arat
bugs		:
bogomips	: 4523.55
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor PCI Express x16 Root Port (rev 02)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller (rev 06)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 05)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev 05)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev 05)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev 05)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 05)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev a5)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM55 Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 4 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.6 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Thermal Subsystem (rev 05)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Madison [Mobility Radeon HD 5650/5750 / 6530M/6550M]
01:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Redwood HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5000 Series]
02:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
03:00.0 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd MMC/SD Host Controller
03:00.1 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5U2xx (R5U230 / R5U231 / R5U241) [Memory Stick Host Controller]
03:00.4 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd MMC/SD Host Controller
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Yukon Optima 88E8059 [PCIe Gigabit Ethernet Controller with AVB] (rev 11)
3f:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-core Registers (rev 02)
3f:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder (rev 02)
3f:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 (rev 02)
3f:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 1st Generation Core i3/5/7 Processor QPI Physical 0 (rev 02)
3f:02.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 1st Generation Core i3/5/7 Processor Reserved (rev 02)
3f:02.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 1st Generation Core i3/5/7 Processor Reserved (rev 02)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,645

Re: Choppy sound in some applications

I tried reproducing this, but not being familiar with b-em, what are the conditions on it making a sound? Simply starting should be enough? 90% CPU usage really starts to look like a bottleneck, do you have working acceleration otherwise? (mesa-libgl and friends)

huffton

Member

Registered: 2013-10-10

Posts: 8

Re: Choppy sound in some applications

Yes, when you start the program it should make the bootup sound I described  - run ./b-em from the B-emV2.2Linux directory. You can make it produce a beep with CTRL-G, or the startup sound can be reproduced with File-> Hard Reset. The menu is on F11.

I am running the default Gnome3 desktop and it works smoothly with the hot corner, so I believe graphics acceleration is working fine. I also had a quick play of alien arena, which works fine.

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 21,645

Re: Choppy sound in some applications

The startup sound isn't really stably reproducible here either regardless of soundbackend, might be an emulator quirk. but i can spam CTRL-G without any dropouts.  Only other suggestion I have is setting your CPU governor to performance. Emulation workloads tend to be a rapid on and off load and frequency schedulers can't keep up. I.e. I have a Skylake i7 6700k clocked to 4.6 GHz and I couldn't get fullspeed in higan because the powersave governor constantly switched frequencies.

huffton

Member

Registered: 2013-10-10

Posts: 8

Re: Choppy sound in some applications

Thanks for all your effort on this - I will read up on the CPU governor.